How Did My Father Die?
by Hyper-SpaceGrl
Summary: The fall and redemption of Anakin, from Ben and Luke’s point of views, respectively. Oneshot. Uses only 4 short movie lines and provides a lot of insight.


**"How Did My Father Die?"  
**_The fall and redemption of Anakin, from Ben and Luke's point of views, respectively. Uses only 4 short movie lines._

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Star Wars, or any scenes, characters, or elements therein. I have not made any profit off of writing this story.

**Special Author's Note**: This has been posted in order to honor/celebrate Star Wars Month. So all you geeks out there, help celebrate it with me!

The story itself was inspired by watching History Channel's special: Star Wars, Legacy Revealed. _It uses only 4 very short movie lines. Everything else is original, unique insight put between the lines by me, and it's actually very spiritual. _Reviews are more than welcome, even if they're bad. If you do R&R, I'll R&R your stuff if you write fiction in a genre I like. :)

* * *

The Time had come, and Ben Kenobi knew it. Somehow, though the monotonous desert sands of Tatooine remained, events in the outside galaxy had changed. They had moved and aligned with each other in order to create the first moment in years that really mattered to Ben.

It had been a morning for enlightening young Luke. Ben had taken this time to instruct him, so that he could be prepared for what Ben knew lied ahead of him. And then Luke asked the Question, the climax of all the outside events that had set the stage for Luke to begin.

"How did my father die?"

Ben listened to the innocent young voice inquiring this and expecting an easy, relatively painless answer. He imagined for a moment what would happen if he told the boy the whole truth. He pictured the innocent young voice melting into grief beyond Ben's comprehension. The sorrow in the clear, blue eyes would transform into rage and the eyes would burn, reflecting yellow. Luke was innocent and young, but the truth about his father would most likely turn him _into _his father. Some mistakes are enough to make once.

The images left Ben in a moment. He had known long before the Question came that Luke would not be ready for the whole truth. He did not think about his response. Hardly letting a second lapse, he recited the one he had planned for years before.

He told Luke that a Jedi named Darth Vader had betrayed and murdered his father. Anyone looking on from the outside would not have been able to detect that Kenobi was telling something other than the whole, unembellished truth. But it was neither truth nor lie.

The truth was that Anakin Skywalker had burned in a lava pit on Mustafar. That was how he had died, physically, or so Obi-Wan had initially thought.

But even that story did not convey the whole truth. Palpatine had brought back Kenobi's pupil, and now there was Vader, alive, though more machine than man. Luke Skywalker's father, Anakin, had died the minute that he pledged himself to the Emperor. It had been a spiritual death, but that had made no difference to Obi-Wan. Anakin's quest for power had killed him. It was Vader that Obi-Wan had fought on Mustafar, suit or no. The very same Vader that had betrayed and murdered his beloved friend, Anakin.

That was _really_ how Luke's father had died.

* * *

Luke rushed at Vader with a burst of fury. If Vader had thought that he could threaten Leia without Luke growing furious, then he'd been sadly mistaken. Luke drove Vader relentlessly back before finally cutting off the mechanical black hand. He heard Vader groan and became satisfied. He had defeated a monster – thinking about him as his own father now was out of the question.

Luke didn't have time to debate whether or not to kill Vader. A voice shocked him out of his rage first. No words needed to be spoken in order to make Luke balk. It simply took Palpatine's laugh, really a devilish cackle. The Emperor was _praising_ Luke. His mind froze when he realized that had given into his rage. Now he was no better than Palpatine or Vader himself. Luke was ashamed of himself. What would Yoda and Ben say to him now? He had failed.

He became suddenly aware of the Emperor asking something of him. Though it was not a question, it demanded an answer.

"Take your father's place at my side."

It was a chilling request, and there were so many different ways that Luke could respond to it, so many different paths that he could take. He would need but one quick stroke of his blade to obey. He could cut down Vader and become the Emperor's new right-hand man, powerful and feared. He could strike down the Emperor as well and rule the galaxy. Or he could run away, save himself while he still could.

But there was only one right choice, and the Force was waiting for him to make it. The weight of the galaxy was on him. Unbeknownst to Luke, the Prophecy was to be fulfilled through Anakin. But Luke was the only one alive who could bring him back and end the war right then and there. Yoda and Ben would say that he had not failed – not yet. It would take one word for him to fully succeed; yet, another word would make him totally fail.

Luke looked down at his black-gloved hand. He was already like his father, in more ways than he had realized, as he'd proven to himself mere moments ago. The rage, the fear, the lust for power... Luke had never talked about his father's past in depth, but suddenly, he _knew_. He understood for himself. _**This**__ is how my father died._

Luke heard echoes of past voices in his mind. _Like his father._ Everyone had said it: Yoda, Beru, Owen, Ben. All he thought about was his gloved hand, just like his father's that he had severed before. Was he going to prove everyone right? Would he complete the circle by killing his father and _becoming_ him?

He thought of Anakin, too. Maybe his father _was_ truly dead, as he'd told Vader on Endor. But maybe there was a slight ray of hope that he wasn't. Luke could not say, but would he let Anakin die for certain at his hands, trapped forever within the demon Vader?

"Never," he said aloud.

It was the one word that he'd needed for complete success. _Never._ He faced the Emperor triumphantly. He could die here, now, and it would not matter. The Force still rejoiced; he'd made the right decision, the _only_ right one. He had fulfilled his true destiny.

He had said more, but it was that initial refusal of which he was most proud. It was at that moment at which he had made his commitment. He threw his lightsaber far from him, and with it tossed away all temptations. He would not cut down Vader or the Emperor.

He was aware of the Palpatine's sudden wrath, of the way that he mercilessly shot excruciating electricity though Luke's body. Luke realized that he was going to die soon. And he had just one hope left in the galaxy.

"Father, please!"

It was a plea, a barely whispered prayer that he did not fully expect to be answered. But suddenly, he felt the pain stop, and he knew that it had been.

* * *

Luke watched the flames of his father's pyre. He wished that Anakin had survived, wished he had known his father better. But Luke really had saved him, as Anakin had told him on the Death Star. _And,_ Luke thought, _he saved me in turn._

He had been wrong about his father being truly dead. Anakin had merely been lying dormant within Vader until something powerful enough had shaken him back into reality and into goodness. He had lived and almost died, physically and spiritually. Just after being resurrected, he'd died finally, the ultimate sacrifice. But though nothing could have stopped his physical death, his father was still with him, always, just as the Force would be.

He looked at his father's spirit and smiled; Anakin reciprocated shyly. Luke felt proud and complete that he had been an important enough reason for Anakin to come back. And he was proud of his father as well; after all, the decision had been ultimately his.

_My father died to save __**me.**_


End file.
